This relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, to displays for electronic devices.
Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, handheld computers, and portable music players often include displays. A display generally contains an array of individually controllable pixels. Transistors such as thin-film transistor may be used in controlling the pixels. For example, in pixels that contain light-emitting diodes, the transistors may be used in controlling the light-emitting diodes and, in pixels that are based on liquid crystals, the transistors may be used in controlling the state of the liquid crystal material. Using arrangements such as these, pixels can be used to present visual information for a user.
Thin-film transistors and other materials for forming display pixels are typically formed on glass substrates. A glass substrate on which an array of thin-film transistors has been formed is sometimes referred to as a thin-film transistor (TFT) glass substrate or TFT glass.
An unsealed TFT glass substrate is vulnerable to damage from exposure to moisture and other environmental factors. As a result, a layer of encapsulation glass is used to encapsulate the components on the TFT glass.
With conventional arrangements, a peripheral seal between the TFT glass and encapsulation glass is formed using a glass frit (i.e., small particles that can be melted to form glass). The glass frit is placed around the perimeter of the TFT glass to surround the electrical structures on the TFT glass. The encapsulation glass is placed on top of the glass frit. Once the glass frit is sandwiched between the TFT glass and the encapsulation glass, a laser is used to melt the glass frit. The resulting encapsulated TFT glass forms a display module.
The melted frit forms a hermetic seal between the TFT glass and the encapsulation glass. The seal is suitable for preventing environmental intrusion into the sealed interior portion of the display module. However, conventional materials and processes for forming sealed display modules of this type may be unable to satisfactorily withstand damage when subjected to unintended impacts. It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved ways for forming display modules.